


From the Streets

by Comrade Sakaki (Quantin_of_the_Lethe)



Series: Comrade Sakaki's Azumanga Daioh Canon [4]
Category: Azumanga Daioh
Genre: Backstory, Character Study, F/F, First Kiss, Girls Kissing, Lesbian Character, POV Female Character, trans!sakaki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26893999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quantin_of_the_Lethe/pseuds/Comrade%20Sakaki
Summary: Kagura's come a long way from stealing from American soldiers and running from the cops, but she's never forgotten her Ryukyuan heritage, or where she comes from.
Relationships: Kagura/Takino Tomo, Mizuhara "Yomi" Koyomi/Takino Tomo
Series: Comrade Sakaki's Azumanga Daioh Canon [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013553
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	From the Streets

_The white men are dangerous!_

Her father's words were echoing in her head as Kagura raced down a Naha side street. Of course they were dangerous, so why did she steal from them? Because she was hungry. Because her family was hungry. Because her family asked her to. Well, that's not really true, they just asked her to go get some fruit, but it's not their fault they didn't have enough money. She didn't think the pair of Marines she took the melons from would care at all. After all, they had money, she did not, and the fruit they picked was too ripe anyway. Plus she remembered how her dad complained about all the money the American army guys were leeching from Okinawans. Surely they had money for a couple of new melons?

The fruit started to slip out of her chest, and she had to stop to readjust. Fatal error. The Marines caught up with her.

"Hey, kid, what's the big deal?" asked the one on the right in not the best Okinawan, but Kagura could manage.

"What's _your_ deal?" she sniped back. "They're just a couple of melons!"

"I'll say," jeered the one on the left.

"Shut the fuck up, man, she can't be older than 13!" the one on the right said in English.

"Not my fault I can't tell the difference between 13 and 30 in this fucking country."

The Marine on the right gave his compatriot a dirty look before turning back to Kagura. "Kid, just give 'em back," he said in Okinawan again.

"Then get me two as a replacement, we're poor and hungry." The Marine rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, whatever. Stay here."

Kagura hopped up on the embankment, swinging her legs to and fro. She mopped the sweat from her brow. She'd managed to run a full two kilometers from the store to here. Not bad for a thirteen year old. She looked at herself in the reflection of a nearby car windshield. Her ruddy brown hair, tinged with red, glistened like someone had used a broom on a wet floor. She'd just caught her breath when the Marine that didn't sexually harass her showed up with two melons. They were overripe again, but she'd take what she could get.

"Listen, kid..." the Marine started. Then he waved his hand dismissively. "Eh. What the hell ever. I don't care. Just get out of here." She took the melons, glared at him, and ran back home.

She took a deep breath. That was a close one. The last time she was caught stealing, she and her sister had gotten the shit kicked out them. She thought the soldiers being drunk that night would make it easier to get away. She was wrong.

The more she interacted with the Americans, the more she understood her father's anger. Sure, the military bases brought "jobs", and even then not that many, but jobs for whom? Jobs for dark-skinned Ryukyuans like Kagura and her family? Or jobs for the "approvable" Yamato minority, or American-Ryukyuans? They got the cushy office positions that directly came out of the American deal, while many Ryukyuans had to scrape by on temp work.

She grew up reading two things: sports magazines her sister bought her, and the vinyl-covered, bilingual (Chinese and Okinawan), hand-translated, self-published Quotations From Chairman Mao Zedong her father had made and gave her for her first birthday after she was able to read. Her father had taught her to always "serve and learn from the people, for they are the greatest teachers". Her sister had taught her perseverance, even when the going got tough, but not to the point of breaking herself. These two lessons were the ones Kagura held tight to her heart, one lesson each from the most important people in her life.

"I'm home!" she called as she pushed open the glorified tarp they called a front door. They'd been meaning to replace it for a while, when they had the money. "Gura!" her sister Keito called. "Niiiiiice, melons! You snag 'em off Americans again?"

"Kagura!" her father said in a mockingly reproachful voice, wagging his finger. "You know better than to _steal!_ Especially from imperialists!"

"Oh, yeah," Kagura said, pulling a log of meat out from under her shirt. "Nabbed this too, while they weren't looking."

"Holy _crap_ , Gura! Pork loin!" Keiko said, holding it tenderly as if it was gold bullion. "Now we can feast!" said Kagura's father. "In fact, Gura, do you want the honors?"

"Of...of cooking? With Mom's pot?"

" _Especially_ with her pot. She'd be so proud of you."

"For stealing two melons and a pork loin?"

"No, silly," her father laughed, "although she would be! No, she'd be so proud of the girl you've grown up to be. 'Second, take not from the masses a single needle or piece of cloth--'"

"'--for then we will win their welcome and support'," Kagura finished. She smirked. "But Chairman Mao didn't say anything about taking from the enemies of the people."

"Haha!" her father guffawed. "No, he did not! We're gonna eat well tonight, thanks to you!"

Kagura pulled out the yellowed paper on which was her mother's champuru recipe, turned on the stove, and got to work.

Her father and sister had told her earlier that day that they had wanted to surprise her, and as evening fell a pit of anxiety and excitement opened in her stomach.

"Well, what's the surprise?" said Kagura.

Her father and Keito looked at each other, then at her. "Well, you know your 14th birthday is coming up."

"Yeah."

"And that you'll be starting high school soon."

"Yeah."

"Well...we've decided to use Mom's settlement money to send you to a school in Tokyo," said Keito.

Kagura blinked. "M-me?"

"You're a good kid and a good student who deserves an opportunity off this rock," Keito said. "Plus, they have a swimming and track program!"

"And Tokyo has lots of people in need of your willpower and heart," her father added. "You're going to be a magnificent woman."

"Oh, Dad!" Kagura cried as she bounded up and embraced her father as much as her arms could allow. She then hugged and kissed her sister.

"Plus, I hear they have cute girls there..." Keito said teasingly, winking at her.

"Kate!" Kagura blushed.

"We love you, Gura."

"And I love you, too."

About two weeks later, Kagura was on a plane from Naha to Tokyo. She would be living with some well-off (well, well-off for Kagura) relatives from her mom's side of the family. She watched as the tiny island she'd called home for fourteen years disappeared, and she never looked back.

* * *

Her first year of high school was violently intimidating, and right off the bat she knew that fitting in here was going to be a difficult process. Her teacher, Miss Kurosawa, was nice enough, and was the PE teacher and sports coach to boot. Her classmates, meanwhile, took to treating her like a zoo animal that could talk.

"Kagura, where are you from? You're very tan. Do you live near a beach?" the classmates would ask her at lunch.

"I'm Ryukyuan. From Naha," she would say, what felt like a billion times.

"An Okinawan!" they would respond with hushed awe and slight amusement. They would try to touch her hair, or her skin. She would reject them wholeheartedly, and they would back off sheepishly.

Some of the kids would crack jokes, but only once did someone actively make a bigoted comment.

"Her skin isn't tan," he started, "it's from the pigsty she lives in."

The boy went home with a black eye. After that, nobody messed with her, at least too badly. The jokes continued, but she learned to tune them out.

Fitting in was proving to be difficult mostly because of socioeconomic status. A *lot* of the kids at this school were well-off. And not 'well-off' by Kagura standards, but 'well-off' as in _actually_ well-off. There wasn't a single kid in her homeroom class first year who could even relate to going hungry some nights, having to budget every cent bc her father's janitorial job was extremely unreliable with paychecks, stealing food from dipshit Marines. She would be met with blank stares and some giggling, and soon she went from class pet to class Oliver Twist. Kids would ask her to nick stuff from stores and whatnot, to which she would angrily reply that she only stole for need, and never from the people. "Take not from the masses a single needle or piece of cloth, for then we will win their welcome and support!" she would say loudly and proudly.

She was alright in school, except for one subject. English. She had a fierce aversion to it out of staunch principle and refused to care at all about it in class. This made the English teacher, Miss Tanizaki, extremely irritated. " _Ka-gu-raaaaaa_!" she would say every time Kagura landed a 35 on an exam. The only time Miss Tanizaki seemed to care about her at all was during the sports festival, when Kagura's speed impressed her so much that Miss Tanizaki (who stubbornly only went by her first name, Yukari, which Kagura respected) bartered with Miss Kurosawa (who Yukari always called 'Nyamo', which made Kagura smirk) to have Kagura transferred to her class.

* * *

Her second year, by contrast, was much more interesting.

Her first day, she walked into class and was immediately embraced as the newest member of a group of girls that had no name, and yet were ubiquitous. She hung out with them as much as she could, with sports in full swing. She was even invited to her new friend Chiyo's summer home for a group vacation, an event that Kagura couldn't have dreamed of when she lived in Naha.

The second night, they were sitting around the common area when Tomo asked out of nowhere (as was Tomo's M/O), "what is everyone's most prized possession?"

"I'm not telling just so you can steal it," Yomi said. Tomo looked scandalized. "I'm just trying to make conversation!"

"Probably my cat plushies," Sakaki said, blushing slightly. "I have so many of them..."

"Definitely Mr. Tadakichi!" Chiyo responded happily.

"Playstation!" Tomo yelled emphatically.

"My glasses," said Yomi.

"My brain," Osaka responded.

"What about you, Kagura?" asked Chiyo, inquisitive.

Kagura reached into her bag and pulled out a small, red book.

"Wait," Tomo said. "I recognize that."

"So, um..." Kagura began, "my family is pretty poor. Really poor, actually. My dad is...my dad is a revolutionary." The others went quiet, staring intently. "He fashions himself a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, and when I was able to read he gave me this." She passed the Little Red Book around for people to look at. "He translated the Quotations From Mao Zedong by hand into Okinawan for me and published it himself. This is the only copy of it. He made only one, for me. It's...well, it's my guidebook to life, and it keeps my dad close to my heart."

"Wow, Kagura," Yomi said. "This is...this is beautifully put together."

She handed it to Tomo, who touched it as if it was an archeological artifact. "I'm afraid I'll damage it," she said quietly. Her brain had slowed, and was clearly thinking about something, but the thought was too nebulous to be voiced yet.

Sakaki felt the book in her hands. Kagura was secretly hoping she'd say something like "this is so cool", but as was her way she patiently looked through it and said simply, "It's gorgeous."

Chiyo was next, followed by Osaka. "I love how it feels in the hand," she said. "I wish more books were this size." And then she handed it back to Kagura.

"Kagura...you said your family is really poor," Chiyo said quietly.

"Yeah."

"Why...how were you able to come here?"

Kagura's face soured. "A couple of years ago, an American soldier killed my mom. The government offered us some money in exchange for not pursuing legal action, like we could afford to. My dad called it hush money, but it's not like we were in any position to say no, we were starving. But instead of using that money to live off of, apparently my dad and sister decided to squirrel it away and save it to send me here."

Silence.

"Oh my God," Yomi mouthed.

"Yeah. My dad doesn't believe the things he does for no reason. We've been treated like shit my whole life, and his family before that, and before that, and before that."

Chiyo was very intently thinking. "Kagura, are you Ryukyuan? I don't think we've ever actually known."

"Yeah, I am. Born and raised in Naha."

"Well," Nyamo said, clapping her hands together, "I think it's time for bed!"

* * *

The next day, she found herself throwing rocks into the sea with Tomo.

"Hey Kagura, ever had a boyfriend?"

She blushed a little. "No, I haven't."

"Oh, c'mon! A hot babe like you has _surely_ had a boyfriend by now!"

"I assure you, Tomo, I haven't."

"Oh, poop, you're no fun."

"I had a girlfriend when I was 12."

Tomo's arm froze mid-throw.

"A...girlfriend, you say," Tomo responded, slightly pink.

"Yeah. One of the neighbor girls. She dumped me after a week."

"I see."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Tomo responded, avoiding eye contact and kicking sand around.

"C'mon, Tomo, tell me!"

Tomo smirked. "Only if you beat me in a race!"

"You're on, loser!"

"Race ya to Yukari's umbrella!"

And they were off. As usual, Tomo took an early lead, her feet pounding the firm sand beneath like a slightly fuzzy and slightly soft basketball court. But Kagura was not to be denied. The sand was her friend, and it yielded to her less heavy pacing, almost bounding like an antelope across the beach. Just as they were about to reach Yukari's blanket, Kagura reached out for the finish, and ran smack into Tomo. The two girls crashed to the sand.

"LOSER!" Kagura yelled.

"No, YOU'RE THE LOSER!" Tomo yelled back.

They started wrestling with each other, and eventually rolled onto Yukari's blanket. They found themselves with Kagura on top of Tomo.

"H-hey there," Tomo said weakly.

"So what were you gonna tell me, huh?" Kagura chuckled with her face inches above Tomo's, whose face was blushing strawberry-red at this point.

"That--I--um--" she spluttered, and Kagura silenced her by gently placing a finger over her mouth.

"There will be no need for that," she said, as she lowered herself down and brought her lips to Tomo's, running her fingers through her hair. They pulled off to find Yukari and Nyamo staring at them, mouths agape.

"I didn't see anything," Yukari said quickly, putting her sunglasses back on and lowering her hat.

"Neither did I," added Nyamo, doing the same.

Tomo and Kagura looked at each other.

"I've, uh...never kissed someone before," Tomo admitted.

"Glad I could be your first," Kagura said slyly. "Wanna go play ball with the others?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna beat you this time!"

Kagura laughed, harder and more from her soul than she had laughed in years. "Sure you are, wildcat."

* * *

The day before the class dance, Kagura noticed Yomi having considerable trouble focusing in English. She'd seen the eye contact Yomi and Tomo were making all day. These two were _disgustingly_ in love. It was kinda fun to watch from afar. She decided to have a little fun with it. The next class was math.

"Hey, Yomi," she whispered as they were walking between classes.

"Gyah!" Yomi said, startled. "God, Kagura--"

"Tomo...is _really_ submissive." That made Yomi blush even harder.

"W-what?!"

"She loves to be roughly handled. Physically."

"Kagu-!"

But before she could finish, Kagura winked at her and continued walking, chuckling to herself. Sure enough, about ten minutes into math, Yomi shot up and went to the bathroom. About five minutes later, Tomo followed. When they didn't return for nearly the entire rest of class, with both of them looking about as red as tomatoes, Kagura smiled.

 _Toldja, egghead,_ she thought.

* * *

Second year and third year came and went, extremely eventful as they were. Eventually, post-graduation plans were being discussed.

"Are you going back to Okinawa, Kagura?" Chiyo asked.

"No, although I'll probably visit," she replied. "I want to stay here. I want to keep up with sports, and there's lots of organizing work that needs to get done. It's time I start fulfilling my dad's wish for me to serve the people of Tokyo."

"Well, you should live with me and Yomi!" Tomo said. Yomi blanched. _Tomo...*and* Kagura? In the same apartment? Well, if it's what her girlfriend wants..._ "Firstly, it's Yomi and _I_ \--"

"Quiet, egghead!" Tomo and Kagura said in unison before high-fiving each other and laughing.

Kagura thought back to that day where she stole the melons from the soldiers and her dad's words to her, and how far she'd come since then. These were people she loved with every fiber of her being. Were they friends? Yes. Comrades? Hopefully soon, given the seedlings she'd been planting in their heads over the last two years. But these were still people she wanted to have in her life for the rest of time.

"Thanks, Dad," she said to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> A few things.
> 
> This was originally written for a particular user on FF Dot Net who really wanted me to do a Kagura fic, particularly relating to her Ryukyuan heritage.
> 
> Weirdly, the idea that Kagura is Ryukyuan is one I've gotten shit for on other corners of the internet, and racism is probably involved. In the anime, Kagura is passed off as just 'very tan', but the 4koma makes no bones about the fact that Kagura is always depicted in greyscale year-round. Kagura is very likely Ryukyuan.
> 
> The overtly political aspect this may rub some the wrong way. For many Ryukyuans, it's a way of life. The presence of the American military on Okinawa is incredibly unpopular among Okinawans, not just Ryukyuans, for a variety of reasons, and Naha is the only single-member legislative district in Japan that returns a member of the Japanese Communist Party to the Imperial Diet. I make Kagura's father more radical than the JCP, but it still highlights the deep anti-imperialist sentiments of the population, especially among native Ryukyuans. The fact that Ryukyuans are not legally considered a distinct ethnic group and are (like their close relations the Ainu) labelled broadly by the Japanese government as 'Japanese' may contribute to these bitter feelings as well.
> 
> I made Kagura's family poor because...well, I'm poor. I know how to write poverty. It's the experience I know best, and I hope I made it somewhat believable. For railing this out in a day, I'm pretty proud how it turned out.
> 
> "Take not from the masses a single needle or piece of cloth, for then we will win their welcome and support!" is the second Rule of Discipline (of the Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention), the guiding rules of engagement for the Chinese Red Army during the Chinese Civil War.


End file.
